Rafer Alston Skipped Town With Good Reason

After not showing up for Saturday’s game versus Atlanta (prompting the Heat to suspend him indefinitely), and after only being in touch with the Heat through text, Rafer Alston cleared the air yesterday.

Rafer Alston is content with his decision to leave the Miami Heat, because it wasn’t about losing his starting job. It was about being told he was no longer going to play and deciding that looking after a twin sister who tried to take her life just a few days earlier was more important.

“The way I handled it was wrong,” Alston said Tuesday in his first public comments since leaving the team last Friday. “I didn’t really tell [team officials] why I was leaving.”

He said he texted team officials that he was going to Texas to be with his family rather than call or meet face to face out of fear his emotions would get the better of him. He was already coping with his twin sister Racine’s attempted suicide when coach Erik Spoelstra pulled him aside and said he was being dropped not only from the starting lineup but also from playing altogether.

…

“It’s been a tough and long year,” he said. “I’ll be 34 in July. If I can come back and play one more season, that would be great. But if not, I’m still happy with my decision. I played 11 years and had a solid career. Maybe I didn’t leave Miami the right way. But I left for the right reason.”